Why These Goofy Glasses with pinholes in them make me stronger (And What It Has to Do with Animal Chiropractic) by Dr. Amy Hayek

Hey there, animal chiropractic friends—

So… I know we keep getting booted out of those live videos lately (tech gremlins, am I right?), but I wanted to hop on here—virtually—and talk about something that might not seem like it has anything to do with animal chiropractic… but actually totally does.

These funny glasses make me stronger

See these goofy-looking glasses I’ve got on? They’ve got little dots on them, and they’re designed to help train the muscles in my eyes. Kind of like doing bicep curls, but for your eyeballs. Near, far, near, far—working those focusing muscles so I can read better without needing reading glasses.

Now, what the heck does that have to do with your dog slipping on the hardwood or your horse stumbling on the trail?

A lot more than you might think.

Animals use their eyes to help them orient to the horizon. Their eyes tell them, “How far down is that step?” But here’s the thing most people miss: those signals aren’t working alone. The muscles in their necks play a huge role in how their brain interprets the environment. Those neck muscles let them know how far their feet are from their heads, whether the ground is soft or firm, hot or cold, slippery or stable.

Basically, your animal’s neck is the communication center for figuring out how to stand up against gravity.

So when your dog is slipping inside the house—it could be their toenails, sure—but it could also be a miscommunication between the muscles in their neck and their brain’s sense of orientation. If your horse is stumbling, it might not be a vision problem that requires fancy glasses like mine… but it might be that she needs a chiropractic adjustment at the pole (the base of the skull) to help those eye muscles and orientation pathways work better.

That little shift can mean the difference between a confident step and a misstep. It might even help your horse avoid poking herself in the eye with a low-hanging branch.

If any of that sounds familiar, I strongly recommend finding a certified animal chiropractor near you. You can head to www.acesalumni.com, where you’ll find a map of doctors we’ve personally trained to understand the connection between structure, vision, balance, and movement.

These aren’t just practitioners who "adjust animals"—they’re trained to understand how that crucial area at the base of the skull influences your animal’s ability to move safely and confidently through space.

Now, back to the glasses…

Fun fact: I can actually read better with these vision-training glasses on than with my regular readers. (I think the brand is Lunisk, if you're curious—they’re all over the internet.)

And here’s the wild part: They don’t just help your eyes. They help your balance. As those eye muscles strengthen, your whole body organizes itself better. But just like with your animals, you don’t want to overdo it too fast. I’ve had these for about a month and a half, and today was the first day I walked the whole driveway wearing them.

Why? Because as your eyes adjust, your balance shifts. Your body re-coordinates. Same with our animal patients. They don’t always move equally on both sides, and they certainly don’t compensate the same way. That’s why regular chiropractic care is so helpful—it restores that balance and brain-body communication.

Thanks for hanging out with me today.

And hey—if you’re a veterinarian or chiropractor who’s reading this and thinking, “Wait… all that eye, balance, posture, orientation stuff actually makes sense,” and you haven’t yet added animal chiropractic to your work…

Come find us at animalchiropracticeducation.com. We train doctors like you to build confident, profitable animal chiropractic practices—while making a real difference for animals (and humans!) who rely on their bodies to work better, not just harder.

Until next time—keep standing tall, and don’t trip over your own feet.— Dr. Amy